An Old Love
by FictionalCharactersAreBetter
Summary: Lady Jane Grey had never wanted to be queen or be married to Lord Dudley. But what happens with a mysterious masked stranger leaves a mark on the young Queen's heart, but when you've got a country to rule and married, surely you won't have time for mysterious, and also eccentric strangers, especially Myrnin. Please read and review! :)
1. Unhappy Life

Chapter 1

**Jane's POV**

"Oh for God's sake Jane, _smile!" _Lady Catherine snapped, tightening my already too tight corset, causing me to let out a yelp and my bosom to be pushed even further upwards. "You're _married _and you've been _queen _for a few days. What's not to be joyful about?" she exclaimed. Lady Catherine had a rather annoying habit to over pronounce certain words, overly enunciating them. Despite this annoying habit, I suppose she was my only loyal friend. But I still could not trust her, not with my deepest secrets; I didn't dare trust anybody with those.

And despite my Lady in Waiting's feeble attempts to make me see the brighter side of life, I simply did not want to. I was married to a complete pig of a man who I did not love, father insisted that I married him; it was the only way I could become queen and gave me the substantial power I needed to rule. Which was another reason why I didn't want to look on the brighter side of life, I didn't want to be queen. Mary's supporters had developed a deep disliking towards me despite the fact that I didn't even want to be Queen! I wanted to be free. I wanted to run around in fields, breathing in fresh country air. I didn't want to be trapped within the walls of the Tower of London, being regal and posing as ruler of England.

"There!" said Lady Catherine, clapping her hands in approval. "You look like an _absolute_ picture! Just _wait_ until Lord Dudley sees you!" I stared at my reflection in the mirror; the stranger who looked back looked nothing like me. But she was very beautiful. A beautiful red and gold embroidered dress hung from her body, hugging the top half of her body like a second skin. Gold and rubies hung from her throat, ears and hands and shone when the fire from the candlesticks glowed upon them. Her red hair was piled in a neat bun on the top of her head, secured carefully with pins, shining with the use of Pears soap.

"And don't forget your_ crown!" _exclaimed Lady Catherine, carefully placing the jewel incrusted thing on top of my head, making sure it didn't ruffle my hair.

"Oh Jane, don't you look like a picture!" said Mother, walking into the room. Dudley close behind her, he looked like a fool, but I wasn't sure that was because of my developed dislike for him. He was cleanly shaven, and had for once in his life stopped grovelling food into his mouth like a pig. He was dressed in his robes, and was ready for the masked ball just as I am. Dudley simply grunted, he always failed to complement me when I wore a new gown.

"Now come on you two lovebirds!" said Mother gesturing us to move out of the room. I disliked how she called us lovebirds, we obviously weren't. I had developed no feelings for my husband over the three days in which we had been married, asides from hate and loathing. Nevertheless, Dudley and I trailed behind her as Mother rambled on about how wonderful the party would be. We only made contact with each other when we reached the top of the stairwell to rest my hand in his arm, as our names were being announced to our guests below us.

**What do you think? Just an idea I had about how Jesse and Myrnin met, the strory will progress more in the next few chapters.**

**Thanks for reading, and please review! I'd love to know what people think of the idea and story so far :)**


	2. A New Friend

Chapter 2

**Jane's POV**

I stared out bleakly at the people below the stairwell, as I heard mine and Dudley's name announced at the bottom. These people were all my subjects; I could end their lives with a click of my fingers. I didn't want this power to be bestowed upon me, it was too much responsibility. It wasn't that I was irresponsible, I just didn't want it. I knew if I dared tell anyone this I would be deemed ungrateful and a spoilt brat, but I wasn't, I just had different priorities and needs to everybody else. I didn't smile as Dudley half dragged me down the stairwell, I kept my head straight trying to show that I was regal and royal, despite my discomfort around the large number of people. I knew I was expected to socialise with the majority of the people in attendance, but good lord they're so utterly and completely boring! All they talked about was politics and the country's economy; I would have to restrain myself from falling asleep.

The room erupted into applause as we stepped off the final step. I finally let out a small polite smile as I stared out at the sea of faces, now stood less than a metre away from me. Once the excitement had faded, people moved away and Dudley had abounded me in favour of the food spread across the far side of the ball room, the absolute and utter pig. I was left alone to suffer mindless chatter from strangers.

I was currently making small talk with Sir Carew and Lady Carew about the country's relationship with France in terms of the pear trade, when I noticed a group of people at the far side of the room. They were rather out of the ordinary if I was being frank, two ladies and two men. The women were very beautiful, one was dainty and had blonde hair swept up on her head into a bun and had a pale blue dress hanging from her petite body. The other woman was in fact even more stunning than the other, she was taller by at least a head and had dark olive skin which suggested she was from a foreign decent, Italy perhaps. A gold dress with jewels glistened from every inch of her body, and her hair hung around her in beautiful curls. One of the men was older than the other; the greying hair was proof of that and stood close to the blonde woman's side. But it was the other man was the one who interested me. His suit was very fine, it was green with careful purple stitching. His dark brown hair was shoulder length and hung in ringlets around his shoulders.

It was only then where it was made obvious to me that he was here with the olive skinned woman, but they were not standing close together as the other couple, they stood within close proximity but not close enough to suggest they were courting or even married. It put a frown on my face wondering their business together, but I immediately regretted my thought. I should have been ashamed of myself, it was not my business to know, I was a supposedly happy, married woman, I should not have been so bold to wonder the status of relationships, asides from mine. I did not however recognise their faces; they did not set off any triggers in my brain as to who they were or whether I had seen them before. Masquerade masks covered the top halves of their faces, matching their choice of dress, so it did not give me any clues as to who they were. They had taken the idea of the masked ball very seriously by wearing masks, most guests had gone without, as did I, but I had to say it gave them a rather elegant look. But I suppose they had to be of somewhat importance, considering they were at a royal party

"Excuse me..." I told Sir Carew and Lady Carew, cutting Lady Carew mid-sentence about the season in which pears where best to pick. I knew it was rude, but I simply couldn't stand more pointless chattering. I started to make my way to the foursome, before Dudley appeared beside me, grabbing my arm preventing me from getting any closer to the mysterious group of people. Crumbs covered his lips from whatever fancy spread the cooks had made for the occasion.

"Jane, there you are. Your mother said the first dance is about to start soon and we have to lead. _It's tradition,_" Dudley seemed as depressed as I was to dance with him, and looked like he'd be more happy shovelling pork pies into his mouth for the rest of the night.

The music changed and the ballroom cleared to make space for us to take the first dance and we soon found ourselves in the centre of the ballroom. Dudley, surprisingly, did not know how to dance, but we awkwardly stumbled through the waltz and as soon as more couples joined the dance, we broke apart and made our separate ways. The other couples provided the cover we needed to make the quiet exit we needed.

I walked towards the balcony, in desperate need of some fresh air. I rested my hands against the cold granite of the balcony, closing my eyes.

"Lovely view; is it not?" said a female voice beside me. My eyes immediately shot open, my hand clasping my chest surprised. It was the olive skinned woman with the gold dress, underneath the moonlight, she looked even more beautiful than inside.

"Sorry your highness, I did not mean to startle you!" she said her voice apologetic and filled with sincerity.

"No, it's quite alright, I simply did not hear you come in," I said to her, giving me a small smile, which she returned kindly. I began to inspect her now that she was within a closer proximity to me. She had large almond eyes, outlined with dark eye makeup. Her skin was like golden honey and was a few shades lighter than her golden dress. The dress was tight and left a large amount of her chest exposed, it was a very bold move and I did not dare do anything so daring. Her hair shone like waterfall in the moonlight.

"Wonderful party your highness," she said, looking me in the eye, smiling kindly.

"Please, call me Jane. Your highness seems too formal, don't you think?" I asked her. If she was surprised by my informality she did not show it.

"As you wish Jane, and please call me Laelia," she said. Laelia, the name was unusual and suggested she was not of British descent despite her British accent, but I liked it.

"Laelia, this is where you have been hiding. Oliver requests that you dance with him for the next song, I suspect it's your favourite," says a voice behind us. We turned around to see the man with ringlets standing beside Laelia earlier.

"Thank you Myrnin, I shall go see him now," she says nodding at Myrnin. "Please excuse me Jane, it was a great pleasure to meet you," Laelia said smiling before going back to the party.

That left me alone with _Myrnin. _Another unusual name, but like Laelia, I also liked it. I knew it was very inappropriate for me to alone with a man who was not my husband. But I could sense I would like this Myrnin.

**Jane and Myrnin have finally met! Any guesses as to what could happen between them? Any possibile fireworks between the married queen and Myrnin?**

**Thanks for reading and please review :)**


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